Now, with a record $500 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs on Wednesday, we figured it was a great time to, once again, dash your dreams. We know, we know — someone will win at least a share of the prize, if not Wednesday, then in some subsequent drawing. But it won’t be you.

The chance of a ticket winning a Powerball jackpot is 1 in 175,223,510 (slightly better than the chance of winning a Mega Millions jackpot, which is 1 in 175,711,536). Here are a few unlikely scenarios that, we’re sorry to say, are much more likely than you taking home this jackpot.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who’s known for his libertarian leanings, cautioned Tuesday that the Republican Party could meet the same fate as animals that went extinct millions of years ago. “I think my party, the Republican Party, is shrinking. We’re in danger of becoming a dinosaur,” he said on CNN’s “Newsroom.” “We’re not competitive on the West Coast, we’re not competitive in New England.”

[…]

“What I’ve said is that I won’t deny I’m interested–a little bit different than ‘I am interested,'” Paul said, pointing to a need for reform in the party.

Paul also weighed in on the fiscal cliff–a series of tax hikes and spending cuts to kick in next year if Congress fails to reach a deficit-reduction deal. Focusing on the negotiations to find an agreement and avert the crisis, Paul said entitlement reform–one of the options on the table in debt talks–should happen on its own and not be part of a deal that also includes raising taxes.

“The way I look at it is entitlements are broken, and it’s not my fault, it’s not Democrats’ fault, it’s because your grandparents had too many babies. It’s because we’re living longer. These are just facts,” he said. “Taxing anyone in a weak economy is not good.”

The Kentucky senator also said he’d be one of the few conservatives willing to compromise on military cuts but remained firm against raising taxes. To make his case, Paul cited examples of what he considers wasteful spending and argued an increase in tax rates would be futile while the government spends “$300,000 a year on robotic squirrels” and $2 million “on how we can convince Chinese prostitutes not to drink so much on the job.”

And that is one funny thing, one nut talking about robotic squirrels…This is an open thread.

Both the Pauls are crackpots. And being nuts, of course they don’t like robotic squirrels.

Loved the statistics examples! My statistics class had many, many examples of how bad the numbers were for the poor suckers who gamble. There are extremely few games of chance where skill makes any difference.

I like the part about having a better chance of getting eaten by a shark than winning the lottery. Although, my dad always played the same numbers for Lotto down in Florida. When he moved to Banjoville, he stopped playing in Florida and started playing the same numbers up here in Georgia. Wouldn’t you guess his damn numbers came out in Fla after he moved up here! We never have luck, of any kind in this family.

Our grandparents had too many children?? this from the republican party who loves abortion being illegal and women should have loads of babies!! These people, and especially Rand Paul make absolutely no sense. Do they get their ideas from the bogey man who lives under their beds.

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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.

You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.